Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

 You know how they say Oreos are milk's favorite cookie? Well, I think they might now have a little bit of competition. This is Martha Stewart's recipe and they're absolutely AMAZING! They seriously scream for a tall glass of ice cold milk. So rich, so peanutty, and they have that salty hit that is just perfect to cut the sweet. The cookies themselves are soft, kind of like a shortbread cookie, but they have this little crunch thing goin' on with the oats and the coarse sugar on the top. OMG it's insanely good. The combination of all of those things results in one of the best tasting peanut butter cookies you'll ever find! Not even kidding. I had to stop myself from eating them. Actually, come to think of it, the sparkle and crunch from the sugar was one of my favorite things. Be sure to include it!
 So if it's a holiday cookie swap, or an after school snack, or even just a treat before going to bed, I know you'll absolutely love 'em! If you have any peanut butter lovers in your life, this is definitely the one for them. Try 'em!

For the cookies:
1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add oats and cook, stirring, until toasted, 5 to 10 minutes. Spread oat mixture onto prepared baking sheet and let cool. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together remaining 1/2 cup butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add peanut butter and mix until well combined. Add oat mixture and flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined. Turn dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Cover dough with a second piece of parchment paper and roll out dough, between parchment, to 1/4 inch thick. Carefully slide rolled dough onto baking sheet and transfer to refrigerator until chilled, about 20 minutes. Remove top layer of parchment paper; cut out cookies using a 2-inch round cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets; sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake until golden, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheets. When cookies have cooled completely, snip end of a pastry bag and squeeze peanut butter filling in a spiral motion on bottom side of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to form sandwiches.


For the peanut butter filling:
3/4 cup peanut butter
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

 Mix all ingredients together in the bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Fill cookies as directed.

Tips:
 I found it easier to handle the cookies after they were COMPLETELY cool. Even better when chilled. They seemed very fragile when I was assembling the sandwiches and many of them broke. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but that's what happened. At first I wasn't going to post the recipe, but my friends tasted them and said OMG Are you KIDDING? So that settled that. They taste SO GOOD, that a little careful handling seemed well worth it. And once they were filled, I let them chill in the fridge for a while, and the filling helped to keep everything together just fine. Definitely worth making, but just handle with care!